Headlines

Four in five English local authorities will be in effect bankrupted by rising special educational needs spending unless the government introduces significant reforms to the system, council leaders have said, The Guardian reported. Councils have called on ministers to write off special educational needs and disability (Send) deficits accumulated by local authorities over the past few years. These are projected to reach £14bn in two years’ time.

Continuing its operation against alleged fraudulent corporate resolutions of bankrupt companies and money laundering activities during insolvency proceedings at National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), ED on Thursday arrested Arvind Kumar, a former resolution professional (RP) of Richa Industries Ltd., The Times of India reported.

Vienna club Pratersauna enters bankruptcy proceedings image Pratersauna has entered preliminary insolvency proceedings, RA.co reported. An insolvency case, filed by creditors against Prater Nostra GmbH, opened on January 21st. According to Zwischenbrücken, the case was opened at the request of the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK). The outlet also reports that employees and artists haven't received any payments since October 2025, and that arrears have amounted to a six-figure sum. The specific type of insolvency the club is listed as bankruptcy.

Zimbabwe has agreed a staff-monitored programme with the International Monetary Fund, a senior official said on Friday, a tentative first step on the way to a closer engagement with the Fund and an eventual loan programme, Reuters reported. A staff-monitored programme is an informal agreement between a country and the IMF that can open the door to financial support from the Fund, help restart one that has gone off track, or enable repeat access to emergency assistance.

The Bank of Mexico left its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Thursday, pausing after 12 consecutive cuts to assess the inflationary impact of recent tax and tariff increases, the Wall Street Journal reported. The five-member board of governors voted unanimously to leave the overnight interest-rate target at 7.0% in their first monetary policy meeting of the year. The pause was widely expected. The board “deemed appropriate on this occasion to pause the rate-cutting cycle, consistent with the assessment of the current inflationary outlook,” the central bank said.

A South Korean crypto exchange accidentally credited users with billions of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin this week, triggering a flash crash in the platform’s listed value of the token, Decrypt.com reported. Instead of airdropping users 2,000 won (a sum worth $1.37 at writing), the exchange, Bithumb, reportedly sent 2,000 BTC apiece, users said. That massive sum was worth some $142 million at writing, with Bitcoin recently trading around $71,000. Read more.

The resignation of Argentina’s national-statistics chief over a new inflation index is testing investor confidence in President Javier Milei’s economic overhaul, reviving memories of efforts by his Peronist predecessors to doctor consumer-price data, the Wall Street Journal reported. Marco Lavagna, head of Argentina’s Indec statistics agency, stepped down Monday after the government delayed plans to update the country’s inflation index, which economists said understates current price increases.

Central Asia’s combined economy grew by more than 6% in 2025 compared with the previous year, according to regional GDP data, EuroNews.com reported. Independent estimates place growth between 6.2% and 6.6%, reflecting different methodologies. The World Bank puts regional expansion at 6.2%, while the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) estimates growth at 6.6%. The figures cover Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, with Turkmenistan excluded due to data limitations. The growth compares with significantly slower projections for advanced economies.

Indonesia's stocks and currency skidded on Friday after Moody's lowered the country's credit rating outlook, the latest jolt for Southeast Asia's largest economy, wiping about $120 billion off its equity market in a turbulent start to the year, Reuters reported. International investors have reacted nervously to President Prabowo Subianto's attempt to ramp up growth to 8%, as concerns over fiscal health and central bank independence cool sentiment on Indonesia.

A Bank of Japan board member highlighted the need for further increases to the benchmark interest rate in order to complete the process of normalizing policy settings, in a signal that’s likely to sustain emerging speculation over an early rate hike, Bloomberg News reported. "I am convinced that continuing with further policy interest rate hikes will be needed to complete the normalization of monetary policy in Japan,” Kazuyuki Masu said Friday in a speech to local business leaders in Ehime Prefecture.